On the last Sunday I visited the small market in Saint Melany (a small village on the other side of the valley) and on the market I met an inhabitant of Le Charnier which I had spoken before. He was selling his products on the market which I liked (and still do) very much. We had a nice conversation in English about everything like nature, photography, work, study, cars and foreign (German) friends when suddenly he asked me ‘have you seen the eagle’? And my answer was ‘no, I have not seen him, but almost every evening and night he walks around the accommodation and makes a lot of noise’. His strange way of looking made me hesitate and suddenly I understand that I had the wrong animal in mind......funny that two different animals have the same pronunciation (in German it is a hedgehog).

Meanwhile I added the page Ardeche with some highlights of butterflies and other creatures. As I mentioned before not much butterflies were resting near the accommodation as it was a wooded area without much flowers or open places. Every evening I walked through the mountain path to search for resting butterflies. Wild boars were also using this path at night and one evening I was very happy that I’ve found one fresh Heath Fritillary but when I arrived the next morning the butterfly was gone. These two pictures are taken early in the morning; due to the warmth and dryness the butterflies were dewless.

Colias hyale alfacariensis - Pale Clouded Yellow

Carcharodus alceae - Mallow Skipper

This was my last story from the Ardeche, fortunately I will return to France in about eight months and in-between I have an other trip to look forward at.

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